Abstract

Drawing upon the extant literature this chapter argues that the entrepreneur is a highly politicised and ideologically charged construct (see Chapter 4 in this volume for a discussion of definitions). Entrepreneurs do not exist in a material way, they are an idea conjured by bourgeois politicians and intellectuals (Jones and Spicer 2005). The entrepreneur is a myth (Ogbor 2000), a vessel for competing ideologies (Jones and Spicer 2005; Lakoff 2004), an imposed doctrine that has become an established ‘institutional fact’ (Perren and Dannreuther 2012; Searle 1995). Policymakers calling upon entrepreneurs are summoning a myth, academics researching entrepreneurs are investigating a myth, and business people identifying with entrepreneurs are internalizing a myth (Ogbor 2000).

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